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7/24/2013 12:15PM

Seib & Wessel: Full Michael Froman Interview

New U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman talks with WSJ's Jerry Seib about the prospects for the U.S. expanding its trade agreements with Asia and Europe and what political support exists in Washington for doing so.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

the ... Jerry side with a Wall Street Journal joined today by Michael Froman newly minted United States Trade representative Mike thanks for joining us to get back to it's it's it's very much ... you get busy agenda that the US is trying to do when your watch ... big free trade agreements with both Europe and Asia ... oh what star with a shouldn't your kid is your sense of the state of progress and how close we can ... get to the finish line of those this year ... well we're we're very much ... indeed for the TPP ... partnership ... aam partners were in the eighteen from around the negotiations does in a time in Asia as we speak ... and our goal is to try and get it done this year ... today Japan joins ... the negotiations over we point them to ... get them into negotiations as quickly as possible and ... ensure that we can get it on track down ... the intrusion and makes the potential final product obviously more meaningful also makes the process of getting their ... more complicated um what's the trade off for their ... well though the it'll be challenging anti BP itself is this challenge it's a complex negotiation ... twelve countries now twenty nine chapters ... but as you say having to pay and be part of this platform ... makes it the most significant form for ... racial integration in the ancient as you talk a lot of getting it done this year ... how realistic is that ... it's ambitious but it can be done ... you're not so far down the track um what's that what you sense of the state of play in the free trade agreement with your ... we've only just started ... the process we had our first round of discussions here in Washington ... a week before last and that was an opportunity to ... exchange ideas exchange views on how to approach ... all various ... issues and ... now he Steve will go back and for the work and will be come the fall ... to really think ... you know you and you might look to the situation cheaply with your given ... of economic stress the contents been through ... um and you might say this is a hard time to do a free trade agreement because that kind of economic stress tends to produce protectionist sentiment ... of is that what's happening in Europe it is back and slow down this process ... actually it's more the opposite and that given all the challenges that ... Europe is having returned to a path toward sustainable growth ... is a lot of political will Europe ... it sees this trade agreement as one mechanism is part of an overall ... pro growth strategy so ... is concentrated attention there and wait as this is before ... you know that the big elephant in the trade room in a way to China of course China is not part of the TPP the free trade ... agreement process that you talk about and then ago ... yet it's the subject of a lot of conversations via latterly between Washington and Beijing about ... dealing with obvious trade issues ... um are you resolving some of those issues is there any prospect that China joins the TPP process eventually ... aam and that is the new leadership there making any difference in these subjects ... well we have a very robust bilateral dialogue with the Chinese across the whole array of economic issues ... trade and investment and most recently ... Cnooc China's leadership is here in Washington for a meeting of Strategic and Economic dialogue ... we did make progress on a number of items ... is more work to be done you wanna go farther and faster ... than we've ... been we've made progress today ... we are making progress through these these was and ... is in bed the the the issue that probably bothers us business community most is intellectual property rights protection of American intellectual property ... the Chinese in gauging on that ... they are engaging and they're increasingly ... focused on it because within China there is ... more production and playful property itself ... we made this a very high priority the whole area of ... tellittoal property protection trade secret protection ... Cyprus that it's a key part of our dialogue with them ... again he's one of these engagements from that President Obama meets prison she ... where there's a sea level dialogue ... we use each one of these meetings as a way that has the ... video when you say there there's more intellectual property protection China stuff did you mean that they see that they got some skin in this game in a way they did before and increased my so didn't resemble them ... year to go ... we reach agreement with them about how to introduce our films market ... and that agreement is still being implemented in ... it's it's coming along ... they have a ... emerging film industry that they want to see protected is well ... and so Jesus a common interest in ... talking about ... welcoming and it's it's like ... shift the focus to the scene here in Washington a little bit first up one of the things that will make your job easier and maybe is essential for closing the kinds of deals are talking about is getting fast so-called fast track authority ... to ... a renewal of the law that says ... outfit agreements get an up or down vote in Congress ... that's always been important to trade partners of their their tend to be ... skeptical editing as it can be amended in Congress ... how how far down that path for you toward getting ... new fast track authority on this Congress ... there is this a lot of interest in Congress and ... in tune with trade promotion authority in moving ... forward to precaution authority ... we agree that it's a critical school and we stand ready to engage them as they work through their process ... to develop a bill that can search your interest but the moment ... there's no legislation is actually moving to the view that the ... two committees are working on both the Ways and Means and Finance Committee ... are working on legislation and we are where we are ready to ... get it is it is their prospects this year for that to happen Elise to start moving ... I think there's profit for its really up to them in their schedule ... well the the ... yesterday the protectionist ... the potential protectionist issued in Europe ... Bumi students in question about the U S you know um ... we've been through a dark economic tunnel in this country for about five years ... it's the sort of environment that tends to increase protectionist sentiment people worry more about protecting jobs ... what is your sense of it as a political question now when you finding in your conversations with people and they know about ... the openness to free trade ... in the strained economic environment ... I think notwithstanding the strand economic American people understand ... that with ninety five percent of the consumers of the world outside United States ... we have to be engaged with being used in promoting global growth is ... due to the G twenty for example ... with the new opening markets for exports ... with the season leveling the playing field to make sure our our workers have a ... fear of level playing field on which to ... on which to compete ... I did was unremarkable last four years and the G twenty s and one this ... is a little protectionism there's actually ... at the worst economic strains in seventeen eighty years ... yet when you look at all the measures adopted by all the major countries of ... disaffected Orchant tiny percentage of the tray ... and I think it's because leaders came together in one repeats the Smoot Hawley of the nineteen thirties really committed themselves ... to ... to ... to reduce protectionism or they founded not to engage in ... additional ... while we're several hours ... Mr. one final question um ... if you we were having a conversation like this ten years ago much of the word out about ... the global trade agree ... the so-called all round dot BTO ... um we're talking instead here in the conversation in general that traders use of bilateral country to country agreements for regional agreements ... has Kjetil global ... trade agreements going out the window just because is too complicated ... and I think everybody agrees that ... the best and highest form of tradables Asia would be ... global with the multilateral trade position to do with the WTO ... but for Number reasons ... argue he's now the view of the international community is ... this is not the right time for an overall agreement ... from our perspective ... China India Brazil ... are ready to open up their markets and play ... their role commensurate with their size global ... economy in other countries have other views of why ... the negotiations in stalemate ... doesn't mean we can make progress and when they were trying to do in Geneva is ... Cray pas momentum for further multilateral trade liberalization by ... initiating a services agreement of its agreement to expand trade and ... information technology and green around trade facilitation ... or making progress on all those even as we in the number of other countries pursue region trade agreements ... oh what makes the project sometime congratulations again